On this page you will find links to useful information to our members new and old. Starting out as a Roving Canal Trader can be a stressful thing, so we hope you find the following information helpful.
Things you can do to get yourself out there!
Get yourself listed on the RCTA Website Traders’ Directory
You use the email you gave us when you joined to log in to access the members area of the RCTA website HERE. If you don’t know your password, click on Forgot Password and you will be sent a new one. Once logged in, you can add your business details to the RCTA ‘Traders Directory’ including photos, contact details and any discount you offer. If you have any challenges with this, please email our volunteers on canaltraders@outlook.com and we will help you as needed.
Join the RCTA Members Only Facebook group
This group is where our members and volunteers discuss ideas, ask questions and advice of other members away from the public forums. We exchange hints and tips, and get advice from each other on the day to day problems that we all encounter. The Steering Group also post updates here, and relevant information for members. Click on the link and ask to join: Members Only Facebook Group.
Follow @canaltraders on Twitter & Instagram
Follow us and see all the news and posts from the RCTA Facebook Page, and other traders on the cut, and all things canal related. Plus, when you tweet, we, and other members, will re-tweet you. Use our ‘hashtags’ – #buyitoffaboat; #canaltraders to increase your reach.
Join the #Buyitoffaboat shop
Our online shopfront for members only to sell, but open to everyone to buy. Put a price, a picture and description and let new customers get to know you. Click here to join.
If you would like more information about the shop and the hashtag, click here.
Let folk know when you are in their area!
County Specific Facebook Pages
A lot of traders use Facebook as a free way of advertising their products and services. Finding the right audience can be difficult, especially if you travel around the network a lot. To help you to advertise your whereabouts out to the right audience, RCTA have created County Facebook Pages for you to post your whereabouts on.
Members and volunteers work hard to create a following of local people that would like to know when a Roving Canal Trader is passing through, or if a canal event or floating market is happening near them in the near future. We also welcome and encourage local canal-side or canal related business’s to advertise. We would also appreciate it if you could share these pages to local groups you are already a member of and help spread the word about the Roving Canal Traders, they are the hidden gems on the waterways.
We currently have nine County Facebook Pages where you can post:
- Hertfordshire Canal Traders
Staffordshire Canal Traders
Birmingham, Black Country & Midlands Canal Traders
Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire & Buckinghamshire Canal Traders
Cheshire Canal Traders
Lancashire & Yorkshire Canal Traders
Shropshire Canal Traders
Derbyshire & Leicester Canal Traders
London Canal Traders
RCTA administered Facebook group
You can talk to many current and prospective Roving Canal Traders to find out about what life is like being your own boss whilst living on the canal if you join: The RCTA Facebook Group: Canal Traders
This group welcomes everyone, and is a comprehensive resource for Roving Canal Traders to support each other by sharing tips and information that they have found helpful. Any trader is welcome to advertise their wares, services, or whereabouts, as long as they are a registered Roving Canal Trader. Non-licenced traders will be offered help with their application and as much advice as possible. Canal based or canal specific businesses are also welcome to join to share their services.
We advertise many canal events and opportunities to trade and encourage others to share their events openly with us.
The group was created by the Roving Canal Traders Association (RCTA) to benefit all Canal Traders as a friendly community to help fellow traders connect. We aim for Canal Traders to be the place where anyone can interact with, and ask questions of, many established and experienced Roving Canal Traders.
Other Facebook groups and pages (Not linked with RCTA)
Canal Traders News: www.facebook.com/canaltraders/
Traders on the Canals: www.facebook.com/groups/canaltraders/
Canal Community Page: www.facebook.com/groups/826257448991452/
Narrowboat Traders Group: www.facebook.com/groups/1906626009593642/
Get yourself booked in at Events!
If you click on the RCTA Markets, Festivals & Events Page, you will find a comprehensive list that is kept as up to date as possible by our volunteers, and can be a good resource for you to find events to trade at. We also organise markets where our members get priority booking! RCTA Floating Markets are organised to give our members trading opportunities, to raise the profile and public awareness of Roving Canal Traders, and of the canals as a whole. Market dates and locations are published on our website as soon as confirmed, and all members are involved in deciding which areas will have Floating Markets the year prior to the arrangements being made. Members will be informed when these can be booked.
You can also take a look at the Canal & River Trust’s Events page or Inland Waterways Association Events Page.
If you need help, contact RCTA and ask for the New Traders Liaison.
RCTA are happy to help any new traders and, if you find yourself stuck or in need of assistance, just email canaltraders@outlook.com with details of your problem and someone will be there to support you.
Familiarise yourself with the rules on Trading from Winter & Visitor moorings
Following a meeting with the Roving Canal Traders Association (RCTA) and CRT, trading on visitor moorings on weekends and on Bank Holiday weekends was discussed. The RCTA raised that they were concerned that if adhering the 48 hour/2 day visitor mooring rule it would mean that authorised trading craft would not be able to trade fully on weekends/Bank Holidays.
With this in mind, we have agreed that on weekends/Bank Holiday only authorised traders on a visitor mooring will be allowed to :-
At Weekends
Friday – Arrive at Visitor Mooring
Saturday – Trade
Sunday – Trade
Monday am – Leave the Visitor Mooring
At Bank Holiday Weekends
Friday – Arrive at Visitor Mooring
Saturday – Trade
Sunday – Trade
Monday – Trade
Tuesday am – Leave the Visitor Mooring
On the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, trade boats may arrive on Thursday and leave on Tuesday.
The Trust will ensure that their enforcement team and boating coordinators are aware of this agreement to ensure that trade boats do not receive extended stay charges on bank holidays.
Winter Moorings
It has been agreed that in line with Planning Regulations, also referred to as the ‘28 day rule’, we will allow compliant authorised business licence holders who secure a winter mooring to:
- trade for 28 consecutive days
- trade for 28 individual days over the period of the secured mooring.
For example: If a winter mooring is secured for one month only, an authorised trader could trade from that mooring for 28 consecutive days, after which no further trading would be allowed to take place. If a winter mooring is secured for four months, within that four month period an authorised trader could trade for 28 individual days, or a block of 28 days.
To enable us to monitor the situation, and ensure that all traders are adhering to the 28 day rule, we will ask for a declaration to be made by each trader that they will adhere to the planning regulations for trading. Click here to see the CRT page this appears on.